That wait is almost over as Natty Greene’s will start interviewing and hiring next week Monday Dec.14 - Thursday Dec. 17 from 10am-3pm at 505 W. Jones St. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) This is the first step in opening and the next step is getting that interior (below) looking like a restaurant and bar. Natty Greene’s should be open in January. The exact date has yet to be determined (more information coming soon).

2009 was a great year for new breweries to open in the Raleigh area. Lonerider Brewing Company, Boylan Bridge Brewpub and Aviator all came out swinging in ‘09 and all seem to be thriving. The competition is becoming stiff but luckily most of the breweries are spread out across the area. This will be the first in the Glenwood area (Boylan is close) since Southend closed years ago. The new energy around local beer could work to Natty Greene’s advantage.

The problem with that site are the flies (fruit flies?). We went there when it was both Southland and It’s Prime Only and both times (spanning a few years) there were those little bitty flies that ended up in my wine. YUCK. I never understood how they got away with that and hope that the renovation for this one will include eliminating these flies.

Of course, I could have gone on the two occasions (again, spanned by years) that they happen to have a bad case of the flies but ewwwwww….

I would think fruit flies have something to do with the kitchen staff and food storage as opposed to the location. I personally never heard any problems from the Prime Only days, and probably ate at Southend a dozen times with no fruit flies to speak of.

Actually, fruit flies are a big problem in every restaurant and bar, so much so that restaurant supply houses sell caps for beer taps and liquor bottles to keep them out. It comes from the use of fruit for drink garnish. They breed and live in the floor drains and bar sink gas traps. They are always worse in winter.